Investing.com - U.S. consumer confidence plunged to a seven-month low in February, underlining concerns over the health of the economy, industry data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, the Conference Board, a market research group, said its index of consumer confidence fell to 92.2 this month from a reading of 97.8 in January, whose figure was revised from a previously reported 98.1. Analysts expected the index to fall to 97.0 in February.
The Present Situation Index declined from 116.6 to 112.1, while the Expectations Index decreased from 85.3 to 78.9 in February.
Commenting on the report, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center Lynn Franco said, “Consumers’ short-term outlook grew more pessimistic, with consumers expressing greater apprehension about business conditions, their personal financial situation, and to a lesser degree, labor market prospects.”
She added that, “Continued turmoil in the financial markets may be rattling consumers, but their assessment of current conditions suggests the economy will continue to expand at a moderate pace in the near-term.”
The monthly Consumer Confidence Survey, based on a probability-design random sample, is conducted for The Conference Board by Nielsen, a leading global provider of information and analytics around what consumers buy and watch. The cutoff date for the preliminary results was February 11.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.1008 from around 1.1002 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.4085 from 1.4080 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 112.24 from 112.27 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 97.48, compared to 97.51 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock markets were down after the open. The Dow 30 shed 0.25%, the S&P 500 dipped 0.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.35%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,222.50 a troy ounce, compared to $1,222.30 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $32.75 a barrel from $32.64 earlier.